By Julien Pretot
AL RAYYAN, Qatar (Reuters) – Belgium coach Roberto Martínez was happy with what he called a deserved 1-0 win over Canada in World Cup Group F on Wednesday, despite the ” worst technical performance” in his six years in office.
After Argentina and Germany lost their opening games, Belgium came close to suffering another big defeat but the team, who finished third at the 2018 World Cup, top the group two points clear of Croatia and Morocco.
“Was it technically the worst performance? Yup. The worst game? No, because it’s a World Cup victory. We had to show a different side of our game and defend very well,” said Martinez at a press conference.
“And we scored a very good goal. You have to give a lot of respect to Canada’s performance, and what we did is we didn’t do well what we were supposed to do, while they did well what they were supposed to do. But we deserved the victory.”
There is obviously plenty of room for improvement for Belgium, who were a pale shadow of the brilliant team that reached the semi-finals in Russia four years ago.
“We have to be self-critical and improve. But it’s better to do that when you have three points, especially after seeing what happened (with Argentina and Germany)”, said Martinez.
Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, however, was clearly unhappy and the man of the match award he received did little to console him.
“I don’t think I had a great game. I don’t know why I won the trophy. Maybe because of my name,” he said.
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